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(11) | EP 0 412 335 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Method and apparatus for determining audience viewing habits |
| (57) A method and apparatus (10) for determining the channel of a plurality of predetermined
channels to which a remotely controlled receiver (12) is tuned. A viewer transmitter
device (24) includes a keyboard (26) for receiving viewer entered selections and a
remote transmitter which transmits infrared, ultrasonic, radio frequency or other
radiated control signals for each of the viewer selections. A receiver device (28)
in a channel detection system (10) receives a signal in the selected transmission
medium, and immediately signals a jamming device (44) to broadcast interference which
precludes the remotely controlled receiver (12) from identifying and acting upon the
transmitted control signal. The receiver device (28) applies the received signal to
a processor device (30) that performs a stored program to determine if the received
signal corresponds to a transmitted control signal from the viewer transmitter device
(24) and, if so, to identify the channel to which the monitored remotely controlled
receiver (12) is to be tuned. An associated memory device (52) is used for storing
the identified channel reception data. The processor device (30) identifies the user
selection and either applies a corresponding control signal to a second transmitter
device (48) which transmits a control signal of sufficient strength to overcome the
interference, or instructs the jamming device (44) to cease the broadcasting of interfering
signals. In either case, the remotely controlled receiver (12) will now receive and
implement the viewer selection. The processor device (30) will periodically broadcast
a command to the remotely controlled receiver (12) containing the last identified
channel data to ensure that a viewer does not manually adjust the channel being viewed.
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